Soulaiman Bellitou and Sami Jbirane, aged 29 and 28, did not choose the most comfortable path by deciding to return to their native Lot-et-Garonne and into the agricultural sector. However, they aim to change the situation for local farmers by improving their margins and their visibility, via the Karreau project, a digital market platform, which won second prize in the BoostCampus 47 competition. A prize which allows them to integrate, for nine months, the incubator of the Agenais Digital Campus. They moved there on November 18.
Soulaiman Bellitou followed training in industrial design, put into practice in Lot-et-Garonne, before returning to the family farm in Fongrave, which mainly produces strawberries. His cousin from Villeneuvois, Sami Jbirane, has a management science course, specializing in data analysis. The first realizes that his father's strawberry farming is not paid enough given the investments made, and decides to market the production in a different way, by selling directly to supermarkets and local wholesalers, but also from other regions. In short, by doing without intermediaries, which allows you to increase your margins and your remuneration. “But buyers will also be able to benefit from fairer prices, by having fresher products,” according to Sami Jbirane.
The two cousins joined forces to expand the idea to other producers, and imagined karreau.fr, a digital platform for farm products, mainly fruits and vegetables. The site currently only functions as a free directory where farmers can register to showcase their products. Ultimately, Karreau will operate thanks to subscriptions and commissions taken on actual sales between professionals. The commissions envisaged are of the order of 5 to 15%, depending on the proximity of customers.
Ready for summer
“Farmers will also benefit from better visibility, as well as the management and productivity tools that we are putting in place, while some still operate on paper,” continues Sami Jbirane. “They will be able to sell directly to wholesalers in the region, as well as to resellers in Rungis, thanks to this networking platform,” explains Soulaiman Bellitou. Karreau's ambition, ultimately, is to take charge of managing the marketing of the products, by having them collected directly from the farm or by automating the transporter's mandate if they leave for another region.
“Karreau also promoted new facilities in the region, bringing in a new generation of producers, attracted by better remuneration,” adds Soulaiman Bellitou. We see that today, the operators are very old and that there is a lack of buyers. We can remedy this with this real address book that will be Karreau. »
The two cousins hope to be ready at least for the next summer season, the highlight of Lot-et-Garonne productions.
